Alluviobolus tsimelahy Wesener, 2009

Wesener, Thomas, Enghoff, Henrik & Sierwald, Petra, 2009, Review of the Spirobolida on Madagascar, with descriptions of twelve new genera, including three genera of ' fire millipedes' (Diplopoda), ZooKeys 19 (19), pp. 1-128 : 83-85

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.3897/zookeys.19.221

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C473F9F6-1AE7-4B3F-B17F-CA1C2709010C

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3791447

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/EA739EC9-0459-4440-891A-6D703BDE2FCC

taxon LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:act:EA739EC9-0459-4440-891A-6D703BDE2FCC

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Alluviobolus tsimelahy Wesener
status

sp. nov.

Alluviobolus tsimelahy Wesener View in CoL , sp. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:EA739EC9-0459-4440-891A-6D703BDE2FCC

Material examined: 14 ♂, 21 ♀, 47 imm. Holotype: 1 ♂ (42 mm long), FMMC W017 D, Madagascar, Province Toliara, RNI Andohahela, parcel II, Tsimelahy , gallery forest, in alluvial debris, 24°57.296’ S, 46°37.214’ E, leg. T. Wesener et al., 24.V.2007 GoogleMaps . Paratypes: 4 ♂, 6 ♀, 6 imm., FMMC W017 D, same data as holotype GoogleMaps ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 2 imm., CAS W017 View Materials D, same data as holotype GoogleMaps ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, ZMUC W017 View Materials D ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, ZMH W017 View Materials D, same data as holotype GoogleMaps .

Other material examined: 4 ♂, 4 ♀, 10 imm., W017D, same data as type material, but stored as vouchers at University Antananarivo ; 1 ♂, 4 ♀, 9 imm., FMMC W016 A, Andohahela mountain chain, Ebosika, rainforest, 24°56’45.24” S, 46°40’31.84” E, leg. T. Wesener et al., 15.VI.2007 GoogleMaps ; 1 ♂, 4 ♀, 9 imm., W016A, same data as previous, University Antananarivo GoogleMaps .

Differential diagnosis: see A. laticlavius for a differentiation of both taxa. It is possible that Ostinobolus rufus sp. n. can also be found in the Ebosika rainforest. Both species live in the same habitat and are of similar size and colour. O. rufus is, however, entirely red ( Fig. 48C View Figure 48 ) while the mesozonites are dark olive greenish in Alluviobolus tsimelahy ( Fig. 42A View Figure 42 ).

Description. Measurements: males with 47–49 body rings, circa 41–44 mm long, 3.6–4.3 mm wide. Females with 47–49 body rings, 52–60 mm long, 5.5–6.0 mm wide.

Coloration on mesozonites dark olive green, metazonites red ( Fig. 42A View Figure 42 ). Rings dorsally with a slender orange stripe. Head, legs, antennae and telson red ( Figs 45 View Figure 45 A–C). Eyes with 22–24 ocelli arranged in 4 or 5 rows ( Fig. 45A View Figure 45 ). Antennae protruding back to ring 5 ( Fig. 45A View Figure 45 ).

Male coxal processes on coxae 3–5 ( Fig. 45B View Figure 45 ), 3 and 4 large, swollen, process on coxa 5 smaller ( Fig. 46B View Figure 46 ). Preanal process absent ( Figs 45C View Figure 45 , 46C View Figure 46 ).

Anterior gonopod sternite elevated into a wide lobe, apically tapering. Tip wellrounded ( Fig. 45F View Figure 45 ). Coxite and telopodite inconspicuous ( Fig. 45H View Figure 45 ).

Posterior gonopods: telopodite with a membranous fringe ( Fig. 45I View Figure 45 ). Apical sclerite (x in Fig. 45I View Figure 45 ) slender, triangular, regularly protruding into a slender, acute tip ( Fig. 45G View Figure 45 ).

Intraspecific variation: specimens from the rainforest of Ebosika show minute differences in the posterior gonopods towards those of the type series (compare Figs 45G, I View Figure 45 with Figs 46J, L, M View Figure 46 ). Ebosika specimens possess apically on the telopodite a short protruding process towards the membranous fringe ( Fig. 46L View Figure 46 , marked with an arrow). However, size, number of body rings, colour pattern and the shape of male coxal processes ( Figs 46 View Figure 46 A–C) are identical in specimens from both populations.

Distribution and ecology: A. tsimelahy is until now the only known Malagasy species of Spirobolida which occurs in the spiny forest and rainforest ecosystem, more precisely in the spiny forest at Tsimelahy and just 5 km east in the rainforest of Ebosika. The record from the spiny forest of Tsimelahy, however, is tainted, because the only place where Alluviobolus specimens were found was very close to the river, inside wet debris. It is currently unknown if the A. tsimelahy specimens from the spiny forest area represent a stable population or whether specimens just floated out of the rainforest and into the spiny forest during the wet season. It is perhaps not a coincident that the specimens from Ebosika were collected close to the same river as those in Tsimelahy ( Fig. 43 View Figure 43 ).

Etymology: tsimelahy , noun in apposition, after the type locality.

CAS

California Academy of Sciences

ZMUC

Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen

ZMH

Zoologisches Museum Hamburg

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